News Archive

Very sad news today

Monday, 11 December 2017

"Silently, like thoughts that come and go, the snowflakes fall, each one a gem."

William Hamilton Gibson.

The Guv'nor with the weanling colts in Sunday's snow

It was a very sad day yesterday when the news came through to us that Pauline Rickett, one of the most marvellous people you could ever meet in this world, and have as an friend and owner, had died. Pauline was like another granny to Angie and I and it was always a pleasure whenever we were with her. I first met her out with her dogs with her late husband Pat and we quickly became firm friends as we had so much in common. She was brought up in the old school way from a farming family. She had ponies from a very early age and she loved and understood horses inside out. She had a constant stream of stories and you would never tire of hearing them. She was the most marvellous judge of a horse, in fact of any animal, and she knew exactly what she wanted when seeing the horses with me. We had countless winners together and other owners would love to have a share in a horse that Pauline was involved with. There will be a lot of happy memories being thought of today. Our condolences go to all her family. She will now be looking down on us and I'm sure we shall have so many winners all pushed home by her.

Freezing conditions yesterday across the Heath

The wind was coming from the Arctic at Dullingham

There is still snow lying but it is wet and mushy and now we have some rain which will soon clear it all away. It's not a bad morning staff wise with only one non runner and we have been getting the horses out well this morning. It's quite difficult getting to the gallops, but with our position on Hamilton Hill we can get straight out and give them a good canter on the polytrack.

Roof Garden

It was freezing as anticipated at Chelmsford on Friday night. Astrofire walked straight into the stalls on her stalls test and passed with flying colours. We shall be entering her up as soon as possible. Astrobreeze was quite keen on leaving the stalls and ran a bit with the choke out. She also went wide on the bend but, as I said on Friday, she will benefit from this run and next time we shall ride her differently.

Four Fifty Three

It was very sad to hear of the death of Peter Walwyn at the weekend. He was Mr. Lambourn and everything that happened in the "Valley of the Horse" was shouted to the roof tops by him. He was champion trainer twice, a great character, strong with his opinions, loyal to a fault and they won't make anymore like him. He single handedly put Lambourn on the map, and his dedication and hard work with their open days produced enough money to build several houses for stable staff. He will be very sadly missed by everybody in the profession.